Adventurer:Ben OrkinWhat:A record-setting, myth-busting 34-hour run on the Colorado.How: In January, Ben Orkin survived a midnight swim in Lava Falls and claimed the Grand Canyon speed record. He set the mark two days after a team of paddlers shattered the original 32-year-old standard.More on Ben Orkin Grand Canyon Speed Descent

Adventurer:Dan Clark, Alice Young Clark, Koby, Ava Fei, Bruce Bembridge and Marilyn ToulouseWhat:Extended family takes on northern wilderness travel in the Canadian Barrenlands following an ancient route.How:Dan Clark, Alice Young Clark and their children, Koby, 8, and Ava Fei, 6, along with Bruce Bembridge and Marilyn Toulouse, made an epic, century-old, 600-mile circuit to the isolated northern tundra, paddling across the Great Slave Lake, surviving a pinned canoe and infamous Arctic bugs.